As of end-March 2012, the program had provided close to $3 billion for smart metering, $1 billion for electricity systems, and roughly a half billion dollars each for electric transmission and customer systems. More than 10.8 million smart meters--8 percent of all electricity meters in the United States--have been newly installed in the program, and 287 networked phasor measurement units (PMUs). Advanced metering (AMI) has enabled Talquin Electric Cooperative in Florida, for example, to save more than $500,000 annually because of more efficient repair servicing and billing.

Other success stories mentioned in the report include the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga, Tennessee, which has installed 1,500 automated circuit switches and sensors on 164 circuits, and Oklahoma Gas and Electric, which is initiating time-based retail rates and customer demand-response systems like in-home displays, web portals, and programmable communicating thermostats.

The SGIG program as a whole has the objectives, the DOE report says, of accelerating by several years industry plans to deploy smart grid technologies, develop and transfer know-how, and shore up cybersecurity. In the next 18 months, as SGIG projects are deployed, DOE's electricity office will continue monitor developments closely and issue quarterly reports.